Irish Wheelchair Association’s Advocacy Manager Joan Carthy has expressed her disappointment that Budget ‘25 hasn’t delivered more for people with disabilities to support with the high cost of living.
“A €12 increase in social welfare payments is nowhere close to the €318 needed to bring people with disabilities out of poverty. Considering the record spend and the well documented financial struggles our members are facing we had hoped for more”, said Ms Carthy.
The Government’s Cost of Disability Report recognised the cost involved in having a disability, yet once again failed to deliver a permanent cost of disability payment or even signal a move towards this happening.
Ms Carthy stressed: “The €400 once of payment while welcomed is only 4.9% of the actual cost of disability based on government figures. One off payments are only a temporary stop gap support. What we need to see is a permanent increase to people’s incomes so that they can make plans for the future.”
She added that the government’s €2.2bn Cost of Living Package fails to acknowledge the extra costs that having a disability incurs and will do little to ease the worries of IWA members who are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
Ms Carthy welcomes the increase in funding for disability services but awaits detail on how much is for existing levels of services and how much is for new services.
IWA’s Advocacy Manager, Joan Carthy, being interviewed for the RTE News: Six One on Budget Day
“We recognise that Minister Rabbitte is advocating hard for people with disabilities. The buck stops with the two finance Ministers. This was their opportunity to make people with disabilities feel heard, but they were not.”
“We welcome Minister Rabbitte’s announcement for additional funding for 2025 to begin the progressive alignment of the Personal Assistant rate and the Home Support rate with Older Persons Services. This will lead to better hours for our staff and reduce the high turnover of staff who are being headhunted for the same jobs, with higher rates of pay, within the public healthcare sector.
“The fight for pay parity has been long and hard. At the end of the day all we are asking for is equality for our staff. Equal pay for equal work. It also takes a toll on our members if they lose a valued personal assistant they have gotten to know. It takes a lot of time to get to know someone new. There are real people behind all these budgetary figures.” she concluded.
IWA’s CEO Annmarie O’Grady and Advocacy Manager Joan Carthy were among organisations gathered to hear details of the Budget Announcement on Tuesday.
See below some of the other key Cost of Living Measures.
· €300 cost of living lump sum payment to all households getting Fuel Allowance
· €200 cost of living lump sum payment for pensioners and people with a disability getting the Living Alone Increase
· €400 cost of living lump sum payment to all families getting the Working Family Payment to be paid in November 2024
· double payment of Child Benefit to be paid in both November and December 2024 to support all families with children
· €400 cost of living lump sum payment for people getting Carer’s Support Grant*
· €400 cost of living lump sum payment for people getting Disability Allowance, Blind Pension and Invalidity Pension*
· €100 cost of living lump sum payment for people getting a Child Support Payment (previously known as Increase for a Qualified Child ) to be paid for each qualified child in November 2024
· October cost of living bonus will be paid on the same basis as the Christmas bonus to groups including pensioners, carers, lone parents, people on disability payment, long-term jobseeker recipients
Christmas bonus will be paid to 1.3 million social welfare recipients
€20 increase a month in Domiciliary Care Allowance from January 2025
